Location Name: Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Center
Materials: N/A
GPS: 46.95443, -119.98816
When using GPS coordinates to navigate to locations in the backcountry sites like Google will often make mistakes. Please watch this video before venturing out. https://youtu.be/hQr1l7dnCE4
Tools: N/A
Vehicle: Any
Date Visited: November 2019 & May 2022
Additional comments: You need a Discover Pass to visit this location. This is a fun location that isn’t far from I-90 and the visitor center is well worth the visit when open. Just outside the park entrance, there is also a rock shop if you feel like buying something, but we have never gone in.
Any Location Updates Since Visit: The Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Center has some odd hours, so you should check their website before going.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Center
The interpretive center has an impressive display of rocks inside which is mostly composed of identified petrified woods, but they also have other local rocks as well, such as some Ellensburg Blue agates. The Ellensburg Blue agate display is quite nice and useful to stop and look at if you want to hunt for these so that you can familiarize with how they look.
Taking photos and video through glasses cases with poor lighting isn’t ideal, but it should be enough to tempt you to make the stop here.
Vintage Documents
Here is a copy of an old brochure that was likely given away at the Museum that I found and scanned. I’m not sure how old this is but since the Civilian Conservation Corps built the museum, and opened the park to the public in 1938 and judged the clothing of some of the people in it, I would say this if from the 1940s or 1950s.
This small booklet was sold in the visitor center around the mid to late 1950s based on the publishing date and the letter on the back cover.
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